The Dead Don't Lie
by ImHavinAGratTim
Summary: Maha's eyes are alluring, but they come with a price. She can see the dead. So, when a certain spirit asks her to relay a message to one of the new kids that arrived, shrouded in death themselves, she has to due to the way the message horrifies her. What she doesn't know is that the Cullen family has many secrets, some that will terrify her more than others. Especially Jasper. JxOC
1. Chapter 1

Hey soooo... this is a new story that I have been writing. This story idea has been stuck in my head for weeks so I just had to do it.

I just wanted to say that just in case you guys are confused, this takes place in a small town, after the book series. I guess maybe its an AU but not really? I don't know. If anyone is confused, please let me know so I can change a few things in the next chapter to better set up the timeline.

Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

 _ **Chapter 1: Eyes**_

Cold. That's how she felt.

She was so very cold, and the rest of the room seemed to follow suit. Everything was so quiet, so still, that it seemed frozen in time. Frozen in the very moment that she herself could not escape. Somehow, she had gotten used to feeling cold, and even though her mind was in a frenzy because of the pain she was in, she found comfort in the cold.

Her body was on fire. Every inch was set ablaze by the pain that pulsed through her veins, igniting her nerves and sending her brain into a panic. She couldn't think with all the alarms going off on her head, with all its efforts to keep her alive. It was telling her to breathe, to keep her heart beating, to keep her systems from failing; but it was all too much, all at once. She could only think about how much she wanted those familiar set of ice-cold arms to wrap around her and seize her burning anguish.

She thought about him, even as she knew she was dying. Even as her breathing halted and her heart became numb in her chest. Even as her eyes were losing sight and she could no longer see a way out of her situation, she thought about him. She loved him, even after everything. He was her dying thought, something she would have never thought of a few months ago.

Her brain began to boil over with thoughts, hormones and chemicals reacting, trying to send her messages. Her eyes and ears began to register something, someone, trying to make contact with her, but by that time her brain has already began to fizz over, bringing her memories of the moments that lead up to this one.

* * *

Grandpa. Cousin. Best friend. Brother. Lover.

As green eyes scanned around the cafeteria, they could see all the different shadows of those still wondering around. They lingered, even though they hadn't been alive for days, months, some for years.

Whole families. Friends. Pets. Sister. Mother.

Her eyes were an unusual hue of green, one that matched the unusual hue with which she saw the world. She saw the world in a way that was much different than others, and this became clearer to her as the years went on. When she was younger, she believed that everyone to see the people hanging around other people. She used to think that everyone knew about the shadows that clung to them, sometimes even cloaked them so completely that it distracted her everyday life. Over the years, after losing many friends because of the way she saw the world, she learned that she was vastly different. She had since grown up and learned to keep quiet about being able to see the dead.

She watched as those who have passed still lingered around their loved ones, watching the dead whisper words the living could not perceive. She watched one girl in particular, a girl named Kaitlynn from her chemistry class, as she sat down. Kaitlynn's mother was the most prominent shadow to appear around her, clinging to her daughter so desperately that it was sometimes distracting. Her mother seemed to be guarding Kaitlynn, trying to parent her daughter in her afterlife the way she would have in her regular life. She had died in a car crash when Kaitlynn was younger.

That was something else that she had to learn to stop talking about. She could feel, see, and hear the same things as the dead if she met their gazes for too long. She could feel the moments they died, the things they heard and saw before they passed. She stench of death would make her sick every now and then, but so long as she didn't pay too much attention to it, it went away after a while. It was just another part of her life that she had learned to ignore as the years went on.

"Maha," she heard a familiar voice whisper, "look, over there."

She didn't look at the person the voice belonged to, mostly because there wasn't a person there at all. The voice belonged to a shadow, one that had followed her around since she was a child. Maha had once attempted to learn the origins of the shadow, but she was only met with closed doors and a lack of answers. The only things she did know about the voice was that he prefered to be called Ojwang, an ancient African name that Maha had never heard before he said it, and that she did not know him in this life. He was not a relative who died, he wasn't even a family friend. And still, he had been there since before she was born, waiting for her arrival.

Maha glanced in the direction that he gestured, her clover green eyes settling onto the table where the new kids sat. Her town was a small town in Oregon, where everyone knew everyone. The people that inhabit the town have a tendency to be born, live, and die there. So when an entire family moved in, all eyes were on them. They were treated as outsiders, all except for their father who took up the job as head doctor at the local hospital. Doctor Cullen. The town's need for good medical treatment far outweighed the need to treat every new person as an outsider. The same could not be said for his kids.

From the first day they arrived at school, no one dared to talk to the Cullen children, no one tried to interact with them. Maha assumed that everyone felt the same way about them as she did, aside from a few snide people who just liked to hate people. She felt as if they were on another level. They were absolutely all gorgeous, and they seemed to have an elegance about them that was far beyond their years. They almost seemed to glide across the halls, so graceful their presence would not have been noticed if their beauty has not already stolen the attention of all the eyes in the room. Maha thought that everyone could feel this tension in the air when they came into the room, and it didn't help that they seemed unbothered by the lack of contact outside of their sibling group. The Cullens reminded her of a secret society, one that only they knew how to get into, only they knew what Maha and the others did not.

From the first time she saw the group of siblings, and even now as she looked at them from across the room, there was one thing she was sure none of her classmates had noticed about them.

Death.

Maha was certain no one but her could notice the unnatural amount of death that followed them, wrapping itself so tightly around them that it made her sick to think about. There were so many shadows swimming around them, some speaking loudly, some drenched in emotions and desperation. She was amazed, terrified really, by the amount of dead that surrounded them. She had never seen so much, all in one area, and when she paid too close attention to that fact, it would overload her senses. There was lots of different stories and lives that were so tightly woven in the bundle of death they had buried themselves in that it would often cause her huge discomfort to even just be in the same room as one of them.

She tried to not pay attention to the fuzziness in her head caused by dead surrounding them, even though that was hard to do because of the sizable amount off them. She had more important things to concern herself with. When Ojwang told her to look at a certain person or group of people, it was never good. It meant that he needed Maha to listen to what the dead were saying, that they needed to get a message across. It always makes Maha slightly nervous when Ojwang draws her attention to a shadow in need, because she knew it would lead to one thing, every single time. The thing she dreaded most about her ability. The visions.

Ojwang called out to Maha again, this time telling her to pay close attention to a shadow that was almost looming over one of the girls. She was pretty, much like the rest of her siblings, but there was something vastly different about her. Her hair was auburn, long and wavy, and it complimented her rosy cheeks. Her features were so delicate it looked as though she might weep if one scolded her too harshly, but the way she held herself suggested a stronger personality than that. Maha couldn't help but smile when she smiled, and it seemed the girl's attitude was just as infectious on her siblings as well. Maha's smile soon faded though, as the shadow coiled itself around the girl, frantically trying to get her attention. It was a man, an older Native American man. He knew the girl, that much Maha could tell, but she didn't get the sense that the little girl knew him. Maha squinted her eyes in thought, not ignorant to the way another person's head at the table seemed to snap in her direction. She had more important things to worry about.

Ojwang reached his arm out to the man, delicately calling out, "Here. Over here, brother." Ojwang had a tendency to call everyone brother, sister, or child. "She can help you, she will listen to you."

It didn't take much for the frantic spirit to look her way, and when she locked eyes with him, her sight faded. She was overcome with the anxieties this shadow was filled with, the raw worry that forced a scene into Maha's mind. He was trying to show her something, a warning to the living. She could tell that he was a spiritual man in his waking life, as those who were tended to be stronger in the after-life. The scene playing out before her didn't make much sense, but she was able to piece out a few things.

First, the man did not know the little girl in his waking life. Instead, he knew another person at the table; a tan young man with cropped hair, his appearance making him feel the most wild of them all. The old man only knew the girl at the table by her association with this kid. Second, the girl was going to die. The scene that played out before her was a vivid display of the girl, running and running until she was trapped. Where she was trapped, Maha didn't know, and she didn't have much time to find out before the girl's neck was snapped and the scene turned dark. Those two things were clear, but everything else was a blur, and it left her with more questions than answers.

Though this was typical of the visions the dead would give her, this one left Maha feeling cold. Her skin erupted into goosebumps, visual representations of the instinctual fear brought on by the vision. Her heart was heavy and her mind was numb, the emotions brought on by the vision having been too strong for her. Too real. She knew that she had to do something about this, and suddenly she understood the frantic spirit.

Maha stood up from her seat, gathering her things. Her backpack felt heavier than usual as she put it on, the dread of having to go confront this girl about her vision setting in. It never really went well when she tried to tell people she saw their death. Still, she had to try, and that thought is what pushed her feet to move, to carry her across the room. She neared the table and noticed that more than just one person was staring at her now. There was the man from before, who was still staring at her since before she saw her vision, but now there was a girl. She was petite, and she reminded Maha of a fairy upon closer inspection. The look on her face was much more inviting than the look on the faces of the man.

"Hello," Maha greeted, though it was more directed at the girl. She was Maha's best bet at a good start. "I'm Maha. Sorry to approach you like this, I-"

The girl didn't let her finish, excitedly blurting out, "Don't worry about it! My name is Alice. I haven't had the pleasure of seeing you around before."

The way the Alice smiled made Maha much more comfortable, and she even managed to return the smile. She was easier to be around than some of the other Cullens, there wasn't much death around her. The shadows that clung to her seemed to have lost their minds in their waking life, for they didn't even seem to recognize Alice. Her voice was much like that of a bell, and it calmed her down. She allowed herself a quick glance around the table, noting that all eyes were on her now. She also noted that all their eyes seemed to be amber colored, something that stroke her as odd considering they were all supposed to be adopted according to the rumors around school. She noticed the man was still staring at her, but as soon as she thought that, he seemed to glance in the other direction.

Turning her attention back to Alice, Maha smiled warmly and said, "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you too, Alice. I actually haven't had the chance to meet you or any of your siblings." She turned to look at the rest of the table, offering a less confident smile than the one she gave to Alice. Usually she was more confident. "What are your names, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Emmett." The biggest man at the table stated, his grin and dazzling dimple not really matching his overall appearance. He had the least amount of death around him, in fact he didn't have any that seemed to know him personally. Maha couldn't help but smile at him, she was glad he wasn't as aggressive as she seemed. Emmett gestured to a woman that sat next to him, his arm draped around her shoulder. "This is Rosalie. Don't mind her, she's just a little... shy."

Maha could tell there was nothing shy about the gorgeous blonde woman before her. In fact, Rosalie practically oozed confidence, so Maha was sure the look she was getting was more one of disapproval than it was of shyness. Even the shadows that surrounded her seemed to cower before her confidence, they were shivering. Rosalie scowled at Emmett, who was grinning in what Maha assumed to be amusement, and turned her attention back down to the table.

Maha's attention was drawn away from the beautiful couple by another woman, this one just as beautiful as Alice and Rosalie. She was much darker in her features, her eyebrows were thicker and her hair framed her face in long, soft bundles. She seemed less excitable, less expressive, than her siblings, but still allowed Maha to see a soft smile. There was death around her, but not an abnormal amount. The man next to her, the one who had been staring at her, seemed to relax a bit.

"I'm Bella. It's nice to meet you, Maha." Bella nodded as she said her name, an unspoken question of if she got her name right. Maha nodded in response.

The man next to her readjusted himself to lean his elbows on the table, his eyes boring into Maha as he introduced himself. The shadows that surrounded him made it hard for her to concentrate. They seemed angry at him, for whatever reason. "Edward. Thank you for coming up to my family and I, not many others have done that."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," Maha laughed, brushing a piece of hair behind her ear. The simple movement made her more comfortable. "We aren't a very welcoming community when it comes to new people. It's like this every time someone new moves in, though I can't remember the last time that happened."

Ojwang wrapped his arms around her shoulders, peering over her shoulder at the table full of people. Maha could feel his urgency even before he said, "These are not the people you are meant to speak with. Quickly, stop wasting time."

"We understand. It's hard to accept new people in such a close-knit community." The girl said, smiling as warmly as she was before.

Maha turned to face her, a smile dancing its way onto her lips. She was beautiful, but it was not like the mature way that Rosalie was, or the dark way in which Bella shined among the rest of the girls at school. No, there was something much more child-like in this girl. There was wonder in her eyes, which were a dark honey, not golden like the rest of the family. They shined brightly amongst the constellations of freckles on her skin, not unlike the freckles on Maha's own cheeks. The thought of the light dying from this girl's eyes like it had in her vision was enough to snap her back into reality, to keep Maha from getting lost in her beauty. There was no death encompassing this girl but her own. She didn't deserve the tragedy that would befall her. Maha needed to tell her and her partner, the man sitting comfortably beside her.

Maha blinked a few times, her smile faltering only for the second at the thought of her vision before it returned as she asked, "I'm sorry, what was your name?"

"Renesmee." She leaned forward, extending a hand, taking Maha's hand in her own to give it a warm shake. "And this is-"

"Jacob." The wild looking boy stated, never sitting up from his leaned back position in the cafeteria chair. This was who she was meant to talk to. "Or Jake."

"Jake!" The old man from before called out, his voice attacking Maha's ears. It caused her to flinch as he bellowed, calling out to Jacob even though he didn't hear him. He couldn't. "Jake! Jake, you need to listen. Jake!"

Ojwang stepped in to take care of the old man, grabbing him by the shoulder. The elder immediately calmed down, his head bowing and his eyes boring into the ground, and Maha wondered for a second if it was because of Ojwang's sheer spiritual power. She quickly shook the thought from her mind, allowing her eyes to scan over Jake once more. This was more important.

She cleared her throat, glancing around before speaking confidently, "Jake. I know this is going to sound weird, but I have something to ask of you." She rolled her eyes, rephrasing her sentence in hope that it would sound less strange. It didn't. "Well, it's not me. It's the old man."

"The old… man?" Jake snorted, crossing his arms over his chest. He licked his lips, letting his chin lift a bit, as if he was attempting to look down on her. "What old man?"

Maha quickly glanced to Ojwang and the old man. He whispered his name, far too intimidated by Ojwang to do much else. A spirit's name is important, and often times Maha didn't get to learn their names because the spirits wouldn't be powerful enough to grant her that information. The old man must have been quite spiritual, much more than she had originally thought. Her thoughts were interrupted with flashing imagery that ran through her mind. Trees, leaves, a blur of red, a massive being, and then pain. Deafening silence. It was his death, similar to the vision he had showed her before of Renesmee.

Maha opened her eyes, focussing once again on Jacob, speaking softly for fear of what came next. The next words to fall from her mouth would change the way of life for the Cullen family for a while, she just knew it. "Harry. Harry Clearwater."

The table became still, stagnant in the air. It was so tense that Maha felt she couldn't breathe. All eyes were on her, even the dead had ceased chattering in order to stare at her. It was a long time, hours it seemed, before someone moved. When they did, it was only to lean closer to Maha, as though they were preparing to defend themselves if they had to. It felt animalistic, instinctual almost. She felt as if she had ran right into a den of animals, just waiting to be eaten. Jacob was the only one to drastically change his position, quickly tossing his chair aside as he stood up to Maha, almost pressed right against her. His breathing became heavy, his nostrils flared as pure rage began to set into the features of his face, his brow furrowed and his jaw muscle jutting out. Maha looked up at him, looking into his eyes even though it caused the goosebumps from before to return and a shiver to run down her spine.

"What. Did you say." Jake questioned, though it didn't really sound like a question. It was a statement. He had heard what she said, which became apparent as he growled out the question he actually wanted to ask, "How the hell do you know about him? Who are you?"

Ojwang appeared next to Maha, whispering to her, trying to calm her down as he told her, "You can do this, my child. Show him. Show him what you saw."

"I…" Maha began, her voice shaking a bit, trying to force its way out of her throat through all the discomfort that had began to take residence there, "I know you won't believe me when I say this, but-"

"Don't try any bullshit with me," Jacob interrupted, taking a step closer to her as he continued, "you little-"

A hand appeared on his arm, and when they looked to see who it was, Renesmee smiled back at the both of them. She didn't say anything, she just looked at Jacob, her hand slowly falling from his arm. He was visibly more calm, and it was interesting to Maha to see the way Jacob seemed to be totally enraptured by her, even nodding in agreement when Renesmee said, "Sorry about Jake, he gets a bit worked up sometimes. I'm sure he'll listen to you now."

Maha nodded, and then breathed deeply. She reminded herself that she was in control of the situation, and that she had done this many times before. It was something she had gotten better at in recent years, and even though it was always hard, a sudden burst of confidence was enough to set her straight. With Ojwang at her side, she felt she could do anything.

"Look," she sighed, her new found confidence coating her tongue, "you're just going to have to trust me when I say that Harry himself told me to come talk to you. I know it's hard to believe, trust me, you and everyone else always react the same way, so let me get a few things clear." Maha cleared her throat, licking her lips before looking him in the eyes, making sure he got the message. She wasn't playing around. For Renesemee's sake, they didn't have time for games. "One, I see the dead. Two, no, I'm not crazy. And three, Harry came to me with a warning."

Jacob seemed to be processing her words, and she wasn't too sure he fully understood them, judging by the way his jaw slacked and his brows seemed to creep lower over his eyes. She was about to explain herself, but found that there was no need when Edward interjected, "Jake, she's telling the truth. She has a message for us. I saw it."

Maha glanced at Edward, watching as he stood up and walked around to stand next to Renesmee. There was something odd about him, even as she ignored the dead that seemed to condemn him to hell. His eyes met hers before quickly glancing away, and it was at this point that it struck her. The reason why he would stare at her wasn't because he just had wandering eyes, it was because he could pick up on something no one else could. Her thoughts.

He could read her mind. She smiled, butterflies loose in her stomach at the thought of this discovery. Maha had only ever met one other person who could read minds, but this seemed like entirely new ground to her; there was something else that made him special. Made them, the Cullens, special. Edward smiled at her, nodding slightly, to which Maha's eyes gleamed. This was an important discovery, but it was a conversation to have at a later date. There were much more pressing things to attend to.

"So... what's the message?" asked Rosalie, who was still seated next to Emmett. Though she asked the question, she seemed disinterested in hearing the answer from Maha, crossing her arms defensively in front of her. If looks could kill, Rosalie would certainly have more dead surrounding her that she did.

At the sound of Edward's soft chuckled, Maha suddenly realized how delicate this situation was. If she were to discuss the matter of her vision with the table full of people, it would drastically change their mood. Their lives. This was neither the time nor the place to talk about something so tragic. Not only would it impact them, but it would impact Maha herself. Her head was beginning to feel as though it was swimming in an ocean of information that she could not process. There was too much stimuli with all the dead around her. She needed to avoid being overstimulated.

Edward nodded in agreement before looking at his family, saying, "It's important. Very important, we should wait for a better time when we can-"

"Maha, why don't you come over then?" Alice suggested, offering another one of her brilliant smiles.

Though she was hesitant, she could see Rosalie and a few other members of the family tense up, Maha eventually smiled back. "Yes, I think that would be better for everyone. Then I can… explain myself a bit better."

"Well, until then, why don't you sit down and we can all get to know each other better." Renesmee suggested, taking her seat again beside Jacob. They suited each other well, Renesmee was so gentle and peaceful, yet strong. She was a force of nature, beautiful yet Maha had the feeling she could be just as devastating. Jacob was vastly different, rugged and wild. He was like an animal, and somehow Renesmee seemed to be the only thing he didn't lash out at.

Alice clapped her hands together, gasping softly as she exclaimed, "That's right!" She was moving around Maha now, an arm gently coming up to wrap around Maha's back, Alice's hand resting on her upper arm. She was oddly touchy for someone she just met, but Maha wasn't opposed to that. It grounded her. "You haven't even met the whole family, there's one person we've been leaving out this whole time. Maha, meet Jasper."

Jasper. That must have been the name of the person that Maha had been purposefully avoiding this entire time. She wasn't sure just how much death had come to surround Jasper, all she knew was that it was an alarming amount, and she was trying to ignore him in order to not risk getting overstimulated. The dead that clung to the Cullens seemed to mostly manifest around him, a thought that gave Maha the chills every time she had previously saw them. Now, being forced to come to terms with the fact that she was standing before him, she could feel her hair stand on end, every fiber in her being telling her to flea. Her fight or flight had been activated, as if there was a lion breathing down her neck. She her eyes trailed up to meet Jasper's own eyes, she realized her fight or flight response may have been justified in activating.

He was captivating, to say the least. Alluring. His eyes are slightly less golden than his siblings, they were more amber than anything, and they seemed to rake over her with curiosity, drinking her appearance in as they came back to her eyes again. A smirk found its way onto his lips, and Maha could feel her heart skip a beat. She ignored it. Instead of blaming it on his beautiful honey waves or his strong frame, or the confident way he tilted his head, she instead tried to blame it on something that soon distracted her from being able to be fully infatuated with him.

"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am." Jasper beckoned, his voice dripping in a sweetness so southern it could have melted her on the spot. Could have, but didn't. She was distracted, so much so that she was sure her jaw must have been on the floor.

Her eyes buzzed around, trying to capture the shadows that seemed to move around Jasper. They were like a fire, dancing and blazing out of control, completely cloaking him in death. It was amazing. No, it was terrifying. Maha could feel her senses begin to reach their limits with all the information the spirits around him carried, she knew she was walking a dangerous line, but she couldn't find herself caring about whether or not she became overstimulated. She was too scared to look away, frozen in time, caught in the madness that existed around him. There was enough death surrounding Jasper to last over a span of different liftimes, different decades, centuries likely. She couldn't even begin to process everything she was seeing, feeling, hearing before her, and the way her head felt like it was going to split open didn't help her concentration any. She needed to look away, she had to, before it was too late.

She was going to look away. Ojwang's cries for her to look at him were futile, though, when her eyes met those of a young boys. He was small, much too young to die, Maha thought. His eyes met hers and for a second, they just stared at each other. Then, the realization that she could see him set in, and the boy began to yell. He began to get emotional, to scream, to cry at her, and when visions of his death flashed through her mind, she understood why.

Her breath caught in her throat when she saw Jasper in her vision. It was him, but it wasn't him at the same time; it was a version of Jasper that sent her off the edge. She was already nervous, but the boys emotions of panic and fear sent her over the edge. She didn't even notice when Alice was calling out her name, when her lungs began to ache for oxygen, when her sight began to diminish from the tears that burned them. She was having a panic attack, but that didn't matter as the boy's death played out before her mind's eye. Sickness plagued her as she watched Jasper attack the boy, snapping his neck like it was nothing, leaving his body to crumble. Maha felt as if her own neck were going to snap, she could feel everything the boy felt. Hurt. Fear. Pain. Betrayal. Death. It was too much. She had reached her limit.

It was only when Alice shook Maha that she was able to come back to reality, that she was able to gasp for air again, able to feel the scorching tears that flowed down her flushed cheeks. All eyes were on her as her panic attack ensued, but her eyes were on Jasper.

The dead don't lie. They only speak the truth, they can only show Maha their truths. So, when they began chanting a word that they knew to be true, it was the only thing that filled Maha's mind. In her panicked, weak state, all she could do was think of that one word, even as Alice tried to get her to work through her panic. It was one the tip of her tongue, sat there like poison, and Maha was ready to spit it right at the face of the beast before her.

"Y-you…" Maha began, her voice wavering, not unlike the way her body was shaking. "You... are a murderer."

As her world began to phase, as she succumbed to her exhaustion brought on by all the emotions and her own panic, Maha could feel all eyes on her. The Cullens rushed to her side as she began to faint, feeling her world tilt before it collapsed around her. The dead, however, did not rush to her side.

Instead, they began to get loud. They were yelling at her, screaming louder than they ever had before. As her eyes closed and her world turned black, she could finally hear them. In a cacophony of panic and desperation, they were all yelling one word. One message.

"Run."


	2. Chapter 2

_**Uhhhh...**_

 _ **So it's been a while since I last updated, and that's because I had to edit this chapter quite a lot and that's because this chapter was originally going to be wayyyyy longer that it is, and it was going to cut off at a point that would have been slightly awkward, so I just decided to split the two chapters up. I hope you enjoy!**_

* * *

 _ **Chapter 2: Suppression**_

Jasper's gift usually made it easy for him to exist in society.

It helped him to control most of the situations that he was in. Usually, if someone were to get too out of hand, he could influence them and get them to calm down. He could always tell how someone was feeling, which had gotten him out of more than a few hostile situations. It allowed him to navigate the world with some form of control, which was a comfort to him seeing as how he had spent a good part of his life being out of control.

Emotions were complex, but Jasper somehow was able to understand him. In his human life, he was rather good at reading people and picking up on clues, which would them help him to manipulate the situation in his favor. He had never imagined it would transfer over into his vampire life- well, he had never imagined he would become a vampire- and was glad that this tiny piece of control was something he had. It helped him to keep the darker part of him away. He hardly had any problems calming people down, and when he deescalates a situation, it always made him feel calmer and more in control. He used that sense of control to feed into his darker side, to keep it at bay. It would be dangerous if he were to lose control of that part of himself.

He took pride in being able to read other's emotions, so when Maha had walked up to him, he didn't know what to do with himself.

Even now, as he watched the steady rise and fall of her chest while she slept on the living room couch, he didn't have a clue where to begin with her emotions. They had been in a craze even before she had called him a murderer in the cafeteria, and now that she was asleep they seemed to run wild in her mind. They were all intense, raw in their truest form, and it was incredibly difficult for Jasper to get a grasp on it. He would start to work at one emotion only for that one to disappear and the next to show up, and then the cycle would repeat itself over and over again.

After she had blacked out, Edward suggested they bring her to their family home. Rosalie was against it, and even Alice was hesitant to bring her home. It seemed as though Alice couldn't really see the future when it came to Maha, her visions of her were always so blurry and uncertain. It was rapidly and ever changing, and Alice seemed to only be able to understand bits and pieces, but even though were mostly useless bits of information. Either that or information that made no sense, almost as if it didn't apply to her.

"I can't read her mind very clearly," even Edward had said, staring at Maha on the car ride home. They finally all came to a decision, which was to take her back to their house, both to be examined and interrogated by Carlisle when he returned home. He had glanced up at Jasper as he continued, "it's as if… many people are inside her head. I hear so many voices that I have to concentrate very hard to hear her thoughts, and even then they often get interrupted."

Jasper found it incredibly hard to be around her as he sat there, watching her sleep. The emotional instability was almost too much for him. Much like his siblings, he needed to focus very hard in order to use his ability on her. He was trying as hard as he could, for both her sake and his, in order to push waves of comfort and calmness her way, but it wasn't doing much. She was like the ocean when it came to her emotions. Much of her emotions seemed to be unexplored, uncontrolled, and everything was so deep. She felt things just as strongly as Jasper did, it seemed. It was dangerous for her to be around him.

And yet, as he listened to the sound of her gentle breathing, he couldn't seem to pull himself away. His eyes swallowed her whole, looking at every detail for what must have been the thousandth time, yet Jasper didn't find himself bored of it. She was mixed, with what Jasper had no idea, but he didn't care much; whatever she was, she was beautiful. Her skin was beautiful, caramel everywhere except her cheeks and lips, where the skin was pinker, a rose gold. The freckles that spread across her nose and cheeks only added to the perfection she held in his eyes, and even as her warm chestnut hair splayed out across the couch and her shoulders in a wild manner, she seemed peaceful. Jasper knew this wasn't the case, she was anything put peaceful in her mind, but the way her plump lips parted ever so slightly gave the impression that her dreams were gentle. The more he looked at her, the more he found to like, to find attractive about her.

He had never felt this way before. This was entirely foreign to him, and he didn't quite know what to do about it. Edward chuckled softly, waiting until Jasper's eyes were on him to ask, "You've become infatuated with her that fast, hm? Even after she declared you a murderer?"

"Infatuated with her?" Rosalie scoffed, mumbling about what an idiot Jasper was, pacing back and forth in the living room. She was the most hesitant of them all to bring Maha into their home, her distrust of humans never having quite left her, even after Renesmee had come into their lives. She was only half, but Rosalie didn't really acknowledge that fact. She looked at Edward, squinting her eyes as she accused him, "And what the hell was that about, calling Jasper a murderer? What does she know about us?"

Edward shook his head, moving to sit next to Bella, glancing at Renesmee and Jacob before turning his attention back to Rosalie to answer, "She mentioned she could see the dead. Her mind is all… jumbled, but I could clearly see Harry talking to her for a split second, and I can make out other people. People that aren't really here, at least not that I can see." He looked to Jasper, his hand coming up to rub Bella's back. Jasper could tell something was wrong, he could feel the sorrow Edward felt, but decided not to ask when Edward suggested, "Jasper, if she can see the dead, that would mean…" He didn't say the rest.

He didn't have to, because everyone knew what he meant. If she could see the dead, if she could communicate with them like she claimed to do, then it meant she knew about Jasper. About his past, about how many lives he had fought and eventually ended. Jasper could feel his eyebrow furrow at this thought, his eyes finding their way back to Maha's resting face. The possibility that she had seen such horrific sights was enough to make him sick, both because he didn't want her to have to witness those things, and also because he didn't want her to see him like that.

"Don't worry, Jazz." Alice spoke softly, resting a hand on Jasper's shoulder. She looked up at him, he knew she could tell he was upset. "We'll talk to her when she wakes up. We can get everything sorted out. Carlisle will know what to do when he gets here, so try not to worry about it so much."

Jasper was about to say thank you, Alice was a dear friend of his, but he was interrupted when he felt Maha's emotions cease to shift. She went silent for a second, he couldn't get a clear read on her at all, but then he was met with raw trust. Trust was intense emotion, and it was rare for Jasper to feel, but when he did it calmed him down. He was astounded by the amount of trust she was projecting, it practically filled the room.

Edward laughed in disbelief at something, staring off into space. He was seeing something, receiving something from Maha. Jasper walked closer to him, watching as Edward shook his head and stared at Maha. Jasper could feel his shock as Edward spoke loud enough for everyone to hear, "She… she's dreaming about Jasper. This is the first time I'm getting such a clear picture and it's… Jasper. Everything was a mess in her head, I couldn't make anything out, but now here you are, staring right in front of her. It's…" He shook his head, laughing. He was at a loss for words.

"Nice one, bro." Emmet chuckled, the size of his grin making up for the scowl that Jasper could feel Rosalie was giving him.

Alice giggled, patting Jasper on the back before returning to her seat, perching herself on the side of one of the loveseats. All Jasper could do was look at Maha, that sense of trust never having left her. When she saw him, she was overcome with overwhelming trust? He couldn't understand it, and yet he felt the smirk take its home on his lips. If he had a working heart, it would have skipped a beat, it would have stumbled over its words, made a fool of itself in front of her. He knew what this feeling was, and even though he was scared to admit it, he knew it was real. He felt, at least to some degree, love. For her? For her emotions toward him? For finally feeling trusted by someone? He didn't know.

His body moved before his mind did, and soon he found himself standing next to the couch, staring down at her. It was hard for him to be around her, yes, and when he heard Edward stand up and slowly move behind him, he could tell that his struggle was apparent. He swallowed, trying not to breathe in her scent. Normally, if she were any other human, he would be able to handle her. Since the birth of Renesmee, he had gotten better at being around humans, being around blood in general. Because of the chaos going on inside her head, though it was calm now, Jasper's own emotions had been thrown off. In order to be in control of his thirst, he needed to be relatively calm, to be in control of his emotions as well as others. It was a struggle to be around her, but it wasn't anything he couldn't withstand. At least, in the moment it wasn't.

He closed his eyes, allowing himself to fully dive into her trust. It ran deep, though it was so new. He didn't know where it came from, but it had since overflowed it's container, filling up the room. It was so warm, much like Maha herself, and it easily consumed him. That's why, when her trust began to waver and her emotions turned sour, Jasper let his eyes snap open to look at her. Maha's brows were furrowed, she looked less peaceful as she slept, and Jasper looked back at Edward for answers.

"She… her image of you is changing. It's like she's having a vision." Edward explained, confusion apparent by the way his eyes seemed to search the air for answers. Jasper began to find it hard to not be engulfed in the fear that Maha was producing as Edward continued, "She's not herself. And neither are you, Jasper. You're… it's you, but it's you from before."

Before. When Jasper was Major Jasper. He looked back at her, almost horrified by the way her body began to tremble. The fear was practically oozing off of her, and Jasper could see the way it caught her breath in her throat, the way it broke her skin out in goosebumps. Why was she seeing this, why did she know about the Major?

Edward's voice came again and Jasper didn't need to use his ability to sense the panic in it as he told the family, "Maria is there. I can't… I can't tell who this is, but I think it's someone's memories." Edward moved next to Jasper now, his eyes boring into Maha as her face began to contort. There was pain there, pain that was explained when Edward exclaimed, "Maria's planning to change her, she's biting-"

He didn't get to finish before he was interrupted. A sound erupted from Maha, one so loud and shiver-inducing that it sent a wave of shock throughout the room. Though Jasper was shrouded in shock, that feeling soon was turned into panic and fear as the noise continued to get louder, to reach higher octaves. The sound was deafening, and it called for the attention of everyone in the house.

It was a scream, one so guttural, so feral, that it seemed to belong to a dying animal. To a mouse before a snake could wrap itself tightly around its body, before the life was choked from it. They all recognized it, all except for Renesmee. She knew nothing of the pain of being turned into a vampire, of the pain of the venom setting every nerve on fire. Everyone else starred, shock having froze their bodies, and in some sense the fear that was brought along with the memory of being changed keeping them still. Jasper watched Maha arch her back, hands coming up to fight a something that was not there. He could feel her distress, and he was sure the rest of his family could as well, as they all moved over to her side.

Maha screamed, pushing and clawing at something before shooting up, sitting up. She began to cough, and Jasper wondered for a second if she was choking on the fear that had built up, of the horror that plagued her mind. The scent of unwelcome, salty tears filled the air as they made their way down her cheeks, soaked into her shirt as she hunched over. She grabbed at her neck, wrapping delicate, shaky hands around her throat, and that's when Jasper could sense it. Mixed in with all the agony, all the fear that was practically eating away at her in front of Jasper's eyes, all the sorrow that was beginning to find a place in her heart, Jasper could sense thirst. Pure, unfiltered thirst was dominating her mind, slowly consuming her. It was strange. It was terrifying that she felt the same thirst Jasper had when he was a Newborn.

Without thinking Jasper reached out to touch her, his hand finding its way onto her trembling shoulder. It wasn't a good idea, seeing as how his own control was in question due to her emotions and especially now that he was beginning to feel his own thirst rise in response to hers, but he felt a need to comfort her. He was relieved when she seemed to snap out of her delusions, flinching at his touch and turning to look at his hand. Jasper tried to take control of her emotions, offering her a gentle, calming warmness instead of her panic that had taken home in her chest. Before long, Maha's heart began to quiet, her breathing began to pace itself, and Jasper would have been relieved if he hadn't been fixated on what she was doing.

He could feel the wetness of her cheeks as she leaned her face into his hand, her own warm hand coming up to grab his. Jasper's eyes traveled up her face when she did this, her eyes catching his before they slipped closed. She turned around, just enough to rest her face in his palm comfortably. She was warm, too warm, a fact that made Jasper frown slightly. She was burning up, she was like a small fire igniting the flesh on his hand at this point. She didn't let go of his hand as she pulled away slightly, instead she brought it to her throat. It took everything in Jasper in order to control the urge to lean down and bite it. He was in control still, but he didn't know how long it would last if she so openly touched him like this. He could feel Edward shifting closer.

"You're cold…" Maha spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. Jasper could get drunk off the sound of her voice, it was very intoxicating. She opened her eyes, staring up at him as though she was searching for something as she continued, "It's nice. My throat is burning…. I…"

She didn't continue, instead turning her attention to the rest of his siblings, her eyes travelling from face to face. She was nervous now as she spoke, a broken laughter leaving her lips, "I guess I have some explaining to do, don't I?"

"Yes, you do." Jacob bellowed, glaring down at her. His hands were folded across his chest and even though Renesmee was standing right next to him, her hand resting on his back as a reminder to not lose his cool, he was still oozing hostility. Jasper turned his attention to him, using his ability to try and calm him down, to ease the tension that was visible in the way his jaw flexed.

Alice stepped forward, a smile shining brilliantly on her face as she reassured Maha, "We will get to that in a second, but right now are you… okay? You startled us, you woke up screaming." Jasper was almost jealous with the trust and comfort that was pooling in the room around Maha when Alice spoke to her. "Do you need anything?"

"Water," Maha nodded, inhaling before sighing softly, a slight smile making an appearance on her graceful lips. "Water would be nice."

The tension seemed to start dissolving as Alice turned on her heel, heading for the kitchen. The rest of Jasper's siblings moved back to their original seats, and even though Rosalie lingered a bit, eventually the situation dispersed. Jasper could feel the hostility and anxiety crawl from the room, though it left behind a mess of confusion for him to try and decipher. Still, it was easier to deal with confusion that it was to deal with the intense, raw emotions that Maha always seemed to emit. He looked down at their hands, noticing the fact that Maha seemed to have forgotten the way in which their hands naturally intertwined. Jasper suddenly became aware of his proximity to her, and his slow-dying sense of self control. His response to this was to let go of her hand, to try and slip away. It would be safer this way.

Much to his surprise, Maha seemed to be filled with many surprises that day, she reached out in desperation, grabbing onto his arm. Jasper glanced back at her, watching her rise from her seat on the couch. She wasn't very tall, shorter than Alice, possibly Bella's height. And yet, her presence seemed to command the attention of the whole room, or at the very least, Jasper's attention. Her eyes, greener than a cats, pierced Jasper's own and locked the latter in place. She stared up at him, and Jasper got a hint of guilt over her slowly deteriorating emotional stability; she was returning to her ever-changing state. Some part of her didn't want him to leave, Jasper could feel it, and this feeling warmed his forever-frozen heart.

"It was wrong of me to call you a murderer, Jasper." She started, her eyes falling from his face, peering down at where her hand made contact with his arm. "I try not to judge anyone based on what I.. hear about them. You just have so much death surrounding you that it's kind of difficult, they're all very loud." She laughed, a smile returning when she did.

Jasper wanted to speak, but was again caught off guard when he felt an overwhelming sense of desire from Maha, watching as she got on her toes, feeling the warmth of her hands on either side of his face. His first instinct was to run away, to move as far away as he could, as fast as he could. But then the image of her arms being ripped off in the act flashed across his mind and he found himself frozen to his place, watching as her face came closer to his. She stopped a few inches away from his face, and Jasper couldn't help but smirk at her beauty.

Maha giggled, speaking softly, "See, you're not like the you he showed me, the you of back then. It's much easier to see that when I'm up close, the dead can't cloud my vision like this." Jasper watched as her eyes travelled his face, pausing at his lips before looking him back in the eyes. "You've grown since then, become an entirely different you. Evolved." Jasper shuddered, relishing in the way her hand slid down his neck, over his shoulder to rest on his chest, right above his unbeating heart. "There's a gentleness about you that you didn't possess before."

"Thank you, ma'am," Jasper spoke, not ignorant to the shiver that ran down Maha's spine and the way her eyes grew wider. He enjoyed the way his voice was affecting her, but he wondered if it was just part of his charm as a vampire, or if it was just him.

Maha's lips parted, as if she were going to say something, but she just tilted her head slightly and let her eyes drift to just beyond Jasper's head. She looked to be listening to something, to someone whispering in her ear. Jasper was reminded of when Alice had visions, Maha had the same absent look in her eyes. He could feel the wave of urgency that overcame her almost as fast as she spun around, as if being pulled, and made her way over to Renesmee.

Maha grabbed Renesmee's hands, holding them tightly as she told her, "Harry… says this is more important than anything else, that I need to tell you about what I saw. It's going to happen soon, very soon." She paused, glancing around the room, her heart loud in his family's ears. "You all need to know, so you can prevent it."

"Then tell us already." Rosalie said, earning a glare from Alice as she returned with a glass of water for Maha. "You keep telling us it's important, why don't you just spit it out already? Stop wasting time."

Alice, who was becoming poisoned with irritation, was about to yell at Rosalie when the front door opened, Carlisle and Esme making their way into the room. Jasper was relieved at the calm that Carlisle always brought into any room he came into, the compassion that followed Esme as she moved across the living room. He felt as if he could be more in control of himself when they were around, something he desperately needed in the current situation.

"We came as fast as we could," Carlisle assured them, a quick nod of his head being directed at Jasper. It was a silent question, making sure he was okay, one that Jasper answered with a nod. Carlisle waited until Esme was by his side before turning to Maha, smiling at her. "You must be Maha. I apologize for not being here when you came to my family's home. Normally we would have met in a more… proper fashion than this."

Maha shook her head, walking over to shake hands with him, doing the same with Esme as she spoke delicately, "I understand how unusual this situation is, so it's no big deal. I'm thankful you came to meet me and hear me out. This is something the whole family should hear." She chewed on her lip, a nervous habit Jasper could sense was coming.

"Well?" Jacob questioned, rather impatiently. He really was a dog. "We're all here, hurry up and-"

"You..." Maha spoke, her confidence wavering, her sentence faltering. Her breathing picked up at the same time her emotions did, and she tilted her head, listening to someone that was not visible to Jasper and the rest of his family. She was dipped in fear, her thoughts seeming to have been interrupted by whispers that did not reach Jasper's ears. She took a deep breath before she continued, staring at Renesmee.

"You are going to be murdered."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Oddity**

Maha is no stranger to odd things.

She lived her whole life differently when compared to others, and she herself was quite the oddity. She was used to odd, she almost found comfort in situations that were less than normal. Even as Ojwang hung in the air, whispering in her ear, the vibrations in his ancient vocal cords sending shivers down the side of her neck, she was used to his odd and panicked state.

"They aren't human," he mumbled, his symbol covered fingers clinging to her shoulders. "They don't act human, and that one…" he paused, pointing a spindly finger at Jasper, "he is trouble, child."

These comments from Ojwang were something that Maha always tried to ignore, she usually just chalked it up to him being an old man, and joked about him having ghost dementia. She'd seen plenty of spirits in her life-time that were misguided, troubled with a false truth that they had come to believe, so when Ojwang freaked out like he was in that moment, she tried to just brush it off.

This time, however, she wasn't so quick to ignore him, and his words easily filled her head as she watched the doctor flash his flashlight into her eyes, checking for a concussion she knew wasn't there. She hadn't fell that hard when she passed out in the cafeteria, she could sense this was just another way for Carlisle to stall. The whole family seemed to be stalling, to be trying to come up with some way to respond to Maha's news. This, as Ojwang would tell her over and over, was indeed odd.

Maha glanced around the room as Carlisle slipped his flashlight back into his pocket, her eyes falling on the way Jacob seemed to be still trying to cool off. He had lashed out at Maha for telling them about her vision, but had reluctantly followed Renesmee out to the balcony when she requested him to. Maha smiled at the image of a dog following its owner that flashed across her mind as she watched the two walk out together. If Jacob was not human like the rest of his family, then she wouldn't be surprised to hear he was a dog. A big, cocky dog. The thought made her giggle.

"You don't seem to have a concussion," Carlisle spoke, more so to himself than to Maha. It must have been a habit he picked up over the years, working in a hospital. He smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he did so. "That's good. Now," he moved to sit down next to her on the couch, his eyebrows furrowing as he continued, "why don't you tell us again what you saw?"

Maha sighed and closed her eyes, both in irritation and concentration. They all knew what she had seen, especially Edward; which was something she noted to ask about later on. This was the third or fourth time Carlisle was asking her to tell them again what she saw, probably in the hope that she would recall new details or see something different.

She chewed on her lip, watching the imagery dance behind her eyelids, keeping them closed as she shook her head, speaking softly as if her words would break Carlisle, "You're going to be disappointed to hear this, doctor, but nothing's changed." She opened her eyes, looking at Carlisle as she continued, "It's still just her running and running, and then… she's gone, her neck snapped. I still can't see where, or who it is. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Maha." Alice reassured her, a gentle smile finding its home on her lips. She walked over, reaching down to rest a supportive hand on Maha's shoulder. It was cold, even if her sentiments were meant to be warm.. "You've already done enough to help us, we wouldn't even have been aware of this situation if not for you."

Something about the words coming from Alice's mouth was heartbreaking. It was meant to be a compliment, but the way Alice spoke about Maha's visions being a good thing seemed almost self-detrimental, as if Alice was ashamed for not knowing. Maha watched as Alice's delicate hands returned to their place on her temples as she walked away, as if she was trying to focus on something. She watched as Alice's eyes closed, an eerie silence falling upon her for a few minutes before her eyes were opened again. Maha could see the disappointment that had settled in them.

Ojwang hovered around Maha, his old gaze washing over Alice as he spoke, "The girl is upset that she didn't see this first. She usually always sees things first." His eyes wandered over Edward, Bella, and Jasper, landing on Maha as he informed her, "They have gifts, my child. Dangerous gifts. Be cautious of them, don't trust so easily."

Maha made sure to make a note of this, especially when it came to Jasper. Edward was easy to figure out, he wasn't very good at hiding his gift after all, and had even exposed his ability to read minds when trying to defend her. Maha smiled when she heard him scoff, not having to look at him to know he was scoffing at her thoughts. Her attention was again brought to Alice when she began speaking with Esme. If Alice had visions like Maha sometimes did, she wouldn't be surprised. She seemed all too eager to be friends with Maha when she had approached them, perhaps she had seen it coming. She would have to keep this in mind when she eventually asked about it later on. Before she was able to begin wondering what Bella and Jasper's gifts were, her eyes were drawn to the exaggerated movements of the couple standing out on the balcony, more specifically to Jacob.

He seemed to be getting irritated again, throwing his hands up as Renesmee looked to be trying to calm him down. Renesmee spoke in a hushed town, so much so that Maha couldn't even hear her voice despite her lips moving, but she had no problem hearing Jacob as his apparent irritation rose. His voice was loud and booming, but it wasn't strong like Emmett's was. It was weaker, lacked confidence, and Maha couldn't blame him. The person he loved was going to be killed, no wonder he was so vulnerable and hostile. On top of that, he didn't seem like the trusting type. She glanced around the room at that thought, her eyes landing on Jasper for a moment before she looked down at the ground, lost in thought.

This was something else that was odd. She seemed to feel okay around the Cullens, she felt like she was safe around them and felt as though she could trust them. This security was something that she wasn't used to when it came to other people, but a feeling that she welcomed nonetheless. The Cullens reminded Maha of her own quirky family, and this notion is what she assumed made them seem so trustworthy. She could feel the love that came from this family, much like her own, even though she was an outsider. It wasn't hard to see, just something that took a little time to recognize; time that the other people in her town didn't seem to have. This being said, she wasn't going to ignore Ojwang's warning to he cautious of them. They seemed to trust her, but she didn't know if this was genuine or if it was just out of convenience. This is why she didn't question them about the things she had noticed, the things that were off about them, the things that made Ojwang warn her in the first place. She didn't need them to distrust her, so she would keep quiet until the moment was right.

Maha was ripped from her thoughts by the sound of the back door being thrown open, and a riled up Jacob marching her way. She would have been intimidated by this before, but now as he moved right in front of her, she saw the look in his eyes was much more accepting than before. This hostility seemed to be a reaction from worry rather than aggression like when he had approached her before.

"Why should we trust you?" He asked, his tone more of acquisition than it was of questioning. His frown and signature scowl seemed to be permanent when it came to dealing with Maha. "Tell me. Why should we… Why should I believe you?"

Maha almost smiled at the way he corrected himself. The him in front of her seemed wild and aggressive, but the way he changed his question showed just how worried and scared he was on the inside. He was scared for Renesmee, and as Maha watched Renesmee walk in from the balcony, she could see why. There was something child-like about her, something curious. It's a shame when anyone dies, when anyone is killed or taken too soon, but Maha felt that this was especially true for Renesmee. Her stomach churned at the thought.

Edward sighed, looking at Jacob as he spoke, "Jake. We can trust her. What reason would she have to lie to us about this? Besides, I've seen-"

"Shut up!" Jacob snapped, the muscles in his jaw clenching tightly. Renesmee was at his side now, a gentle hand resting against his arm. He glared at Edward, an unspoken hostility nearly drowning out everything else in the room. Maha could see Jacob already wasn't very fond of Edward, though she could tell it was for some other reason she was not yet aware of. Jacob continued to snap at Edward, practically yelling, "Just because you saw something doesn't mean shit! I haven't seen anything credible yet!"

Ojwang chuckled beside Maha, watching the scene unfold before her. "You were wrong in your assumption earlier, child. He behaves more like a cat than a dog. A housecat, at that."

Maha would have smiled at this observation, but stopped herself from doing so when Jacob whipped back around, facing her once again. His anger seemed to have only intensified, despite the fact that Renesmee was now pulling on his arm. He didn't move to follow her as he would before, instead choosing to keep his intense stare on Maha, his eyes unwavering. His concerns were valid, but she wished he did a better job at keeping his cool.

"How do I know you're not a liar, huh?" He licked his lips. Maha wondered if his canines were always that threatening looking, if the growl in his chest had always been there. "That your'e not trying to set us up? Showing us bullshit images and weaseling your way into-"

"I can show you."

The words had left her mouth before Maha could really think about them, and soon she regretted them when she saw the glint in Harry's eyes. Now she had to do it.

She sighed softly, looking up at Jacob, trying to comfort him by telling him, "I will show you, if you'd like. I don't usually like to do this, but if it would make you feel more secure, I can show you."

Jacob seemed stunned for a second, falling into the same silence that the rest of the family had upon hearing this. He was only there for a moment though, for the next he was nodding, motioning silently, impatiently for her to prove her words.

"You're ready for this, child. Show them what we can do." Ojwang chanted, moving forward until he was in front of Jacob. He called out to Harry, beckoning him to join him in front of Jacob. They joined hands, glancing back at Maha. It was her turn.

Carlisle was the first to speak when Maha readjusted herself, seeming to try to ground herself, his eyebrows coming together in confusion as he asked, "What do you mean by this, Maha?"

She ignored him, closing her eyes and speaking softly. She gripped the edge of the couch, her feet planted firmly on the ground, her back in full contact with the back of the couch. She was preparing herself for what would happen next as she told Jacob, "Hold out your hand."

Maha didn't need to see what happened next, and she couldn't even if she needed to. She knew what came next. She couldn't see Ojwang, but she knows he would have jumped forward, grabbing hold of all Jacob's senses, cloaking him in his own spiritual energy. She couldn't hear Harry, but she knew he'd be pleading with Jacob to heed his warning, and she knew that he'd be tugging on Jake's hand right about now. She could no longer feel, but she knew that Jacob must be confused as he took in all his information.

This was Ojwang's power, but it only worked with Maha because she could see, hear, and feel the dead. Her senses were stolen from her during this time as he transferred them over to the other person, allowing them to sense everything that Maha was. It was overwhelming for normal people to deal with, so she didn't do this often, only once or twice before. It also forced her to be overstimulated when her senses were returned to her, and she was at her most vulnerable during this time, so she usually tried to avoid doing this. In this case, it was necessary to gain Jacob's trust.

She didn't know how long it had been, but Maha figured it had been long enough for Harry to get his message across to Jake. She could not hear her own voice, but she opened her mouth and asked Ojwang for her senses back, waiting patiently for him to let go of Jacob. The feeling in her body slowly began to come back, and she could finally feel the cushion between her clenched fists, the ground below her feet, and the couch that warmed her back. She began to relax, but stopped when her neck broke out in goosebumps.

There was something behind her. Breathing down her neck, ice cold air rolling past her ears and rustling her hair. Something about it wasn't human, it was more primal than that, and it activated her own animal instincts. She was submerged in a sudden panic, terrified at the thought of what could be behind her. The possibility of what could be behind her. She either needed to fight or flight, but instead she froze, aware of hands that now began to her grab at her. They engulfed her, grabbing her arms and legs, her torso and face, clinging to her. They were trying to drag her away, take her somewhere dark, dangerous; to drag her to the bottom of some deep ocean. If she were underwater, it would surely would have been easier to breathe than it was right now. These inhuman beings, Maha was sure there must have been hundreds of them, were beginning to seep into every pore, filling her to the brim with anxiety and pure terror. As her hearing was slowly returned to her, her ears were filled with the sound of whispers, of screaming in languages she didn't know, the hissing and growling of beings that sent shivers across her skin in ripples. She was terrified.

"O-Ojwang." She called, her body beginning to tremble. Her sight had not yet been returned to her, yet she was being filled with so much negative information that she had reached her limit. She was starting to become overstimulated, over saturated, soaked in their dirty muck. She didn't hear an answer, so this time she called more frantically, "Ojwang!"

No answer. This pushed her over the edge.

"Ojwang!" She screamed, knowing she must surely look crazed to the Cullens. She didn't care, she couldn't in that moment. "Ojwang return my sight! Ojwang, I can't fucking see, return my sight! Ojwang!"

She felt pressure on her shoulders and she gasped at the way her sight returned, her eyes wide even though the light of the Cullen's living room was too bright for her newly returned vision. She was panting, heaving as she clutched her chest, staring at the ground in an attempt to try and calm herself down, the panic attack brought on by this over stimulation. The hands on her shoulders belonged to Ojwang, they were much warmer than the hands of whatever beasts that had a hold on her only moments ago. She shuddered at the thought of something so negative, so inhuman having hold of her that easily. She needed to be stronger than that. She needed to learn how to defend herself.

This meant that she would have to deal with this later, at home. With her. Maha shuddered at this thought.

Alice was by her side now, and Maha isn't sure when she got there, but was glad she was as she felt a hand come up to rub her back. It calmed her down, but as her fear slowly began to creak out of the room, she felt something else pulling at her emotions. She was too distraught to figure out what it was.

"What was that, Maha?" Alice asked, her fairy-like features now twisted into a deep frown, concern and worry covering her face. "You worried us. You were shaking and-"

It took awhile for her to answer Alice. Minutes passed before Maha laughed softly, her breathing returning to normal though she still felt lightheaded. A migraine was beginning to find it's home right in the dead center of her head, another side effect of being overstimulated to that extent. She looked to Alice, nodding as she told her, "I know, Alice. I know. I'm sorry I scared you like that."

Carlisle was next to her, watching her with the same concerned eyes as Esme, who had come closer than she was before, leaning over the side of the couch, an arm wrapped softly around Carlisle's shoulders. Edward was holding Bella who looked just as confused as everyone else, and Maha wondered if he had heard any of her thoughts. Emmett and Rosalie seemed more alert than usual, with Emmett now standing rather than sitting; Rosalie held the same scowl as usual, though her eyes seemed to pierce deeper into Maha's own when they made contact. She knew she had more explaining to do yet again.

Maha looked directly in front of her, watching as Jacob steadied his breathing, his skin having broke out in goosebumps and his hair standing on edge. Every instinct in his body seemed to be at the alarm, his pupils dilated wildly as if to try and understand the world around him again, his teeth gritting against each other in what Maha imagined to be a mixture of hostility and fear. Silence passed between them as he looked at her, his chest heaving, a worried Renesmee reaching up to grab his face. He didn't budge, keeping unwavering eye contact with Maha, understanding filling his eyes and settling onto his features.

Maha chuckled, already knowing the answer before she asked the question.

"Do you believe me now?"

* * *

Her home was a safe place. As soon as Maha walked in the door, she felt a weight lift off of her, she felt the dead lingering by the door and the evil creep out of the room. This was largely in part due to her mother, who regularly sages and cleansed the house. Maha hung her coat up, walking through their living room, past the kitchen into the sun room, smiling as she watched her mother, Fatima, water different plants.

"I'm home, Mom." Maha called, sliding open the old screen door.

Her mother turned, smiling brilliantly. She was a beautiful woman, her chestnut skin glowing with the way her smile lit up her whole face. Maha was glad she got most of her looks from her mother, they could be sisters aside from a few features being drastically different thanks to her father, like her mother being taller and having straighter hair. One thing that Maha had not inherited even a little bit of was her mother's gracefulness, something she became aware of more and more as the years went on. Fatima walked to the other side of the room silently, plucking a few dead leaves from one of the plants, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. Every movement was beautiful somehow, her mom held a radiance Maha feared she would never reach as she aged.

Her mother did not have the same spiritual power as Maha, but she was still able to sense things. Fatima was able to sometimes pick up on fragments of spirits conversations, or she would have dreams brought on by spirits that she couldn't decipher. She was much better at cleansing people of negative energy, purging out the evil that sometimes dragged people down. She had made a business out of doing this, choosing to help people by being an at home spiritual healer. This was another reason their house was a safe space, and why you could often find her mom placing new talismans all around the house or sageing the house a few times day. Fatima needed a neutral space for her practice, a practice that she considered herself very good at. She could clear out almost any negative force. Almost any.

There was one place in the house that housed unspeakable negative energy, contained to one room.

Maha walked back into the house as this thought crossed her mind, walking to the end of one of the hallways, standing at the end of the only set of stairs that lead up to the second floor. She stared for a while, debating on what to do, feeling Ojwang's anxiety rise as she decided to walk up those stairs, taking the first step.

"Child," Ojwang warned, moving in front of Maha in an attempt to stop her from walking up those stairs. He didn't want her to venture into that room at the top of those stairs, his spirit quaking at that thought as he continued, "you shouldn't go up there. You know I can't follow you in there, you'll be too vulnerable without me."

Maha simply walked past Ojwang, sighing softly as she reasoned with him, "Ojwang, I don't have any other choice. I'm already too vulnerable, even with you here."

She made it to the top of the stairs, her heart picking up in pace as her eyes glanced over the door before her. It was covered in talismans, not even an inch of the wood of the door peeking through. Layers of spiritual protection had been placed on the door to effectively seal it off from the rest of the house, locking the beings beyond the door inside that room.

"I want to get stronger, Ojwang." She said, smiling at him softly. "For myself."

She opened the door, ignoring Ojwang as he called for her over and over again, stepping into the smoke filled room, closing the heavy door behind her. She coughed, not only because of the thick smoke that seemed to replace the air in the room, but also because of the density of the spiritual energy in the room. Maha stared at the other room, finding the source of the smoke.

Though there were many candles, incense, and altars in the room, the smoke was coming from the cigar that her grandmother was smoking. She watched as her grandmother, Amare, sucked in long drags, letting the smoke filter out through her nostrils, old hands ashing the cigar in a bowl she held in her lap. She was sitting in bed, where she usually was, a glass of tea on the nightstand, a quilt covering her legs, bringing warmth and comfort to her ancient bones. The age was shown on her grandmother's face, covered in wrinkles, the left side covered in scars and accompanied with. Maha had never asked what caused them, but it wasn't hard to imagine what it could have been as Maha's eyes traveled upwards.

Thousands of inhuman spirits, if they could even be called that, seemed to sprout from her grandmother, dancing around above and behind her. They were all ancient beings, too old to be called demons or spirits. They didn't move farther beyond that area in the room, but Maha knew they would probably run from the room if they were given the chance. They festered around her grandmother, blistering as they ran into each other, feeding off of the negative energy that was stagnant in the air. It seemed to have seeped into the fading wallpaper, taken claim to her grandmother's bed, every part of the room was filled to the brim with such dark negativity. Such malicious intent. It sent shivers down her spine.

"Baby girl," Amare called out lovingly, taking another puff before continuing, "I'm glad to see you, I can't believe you're visiting me." Maha's eyes followed the way the smoke wisped around the demons, soon engulfed by the sheer mass of them.

Maha looked back at her grandmother, trying not to pay any mind to the way the ancient beings began to get louder, the way they began to wriggle wildly behind her grandmother. She smiled, answering, "It's nice to see you, grandma. How are you? I'm sorry I don't visit often, you know it's hard for me to-"

"Cut the nonsense. What do you want, girl?" Amare questioned, all hospitality disappearing along with her smile. It made Maha shudder, the sudden shift in her grandmother's mood sending the spirits into a frenzy. They were feeding off of Maha's fear, the fear she has had of her grandmother since she was a little girl. It didn't help that their relationship was so rocky, either.

Maha chewed on her lip before answering, taking a step farther into the room, sealing her fate as she answered, "I want to get stronger. I want to learn how to control this gift better. I need your help."

Amare threw her head back in a laugh, one that filled the room. It caused the spirits to become louder, screaming and cackling along with her. It was deafening, thousands of voices all screaming. If there was a hell, Maha felt this would be it. Fear seeped into her core, forcing its way into her body and making its home there. It filled Maha's head, and she could feel the start of a splitting headache, but she remained still. She needed to get stronger. This was all too much.

"Enough!"

All noises and motion came to a halt, her grandmother's voice ringing through out the room, her hand coming up to signal the ancients beings to stop their mocking. Amare's presence was enough to make Maha choke, it was so heavy that the air became even harder to breathe. The beings that were so dangerous before seemed to cower before her grandmother, something that made Maha's skin break out in goosebumps, for sweat to start forming on her back. She was utterly terrified at her grandmother, but this was her only option at this point.

"I will help you, baby girl." Amare said, accompanied with a toothy grin.

Her grandmother's devilish smile returned as she took another drag from the cigar before putting it out, once again letting the smoke blow out through her nose, the smoke coming out in little puffs as she chuckled. Her grandmother's voice chilled Maha to the bone as she spoke, something sinister sitting just below the surface.

"Shall we begin, then?"


End file.
